Writing Vs Life

I heard someone say this once, “Writing isn’t quiet—it’s chaotic.”

I kinda disagree. Writing is quiet, the space around it is chaotic.

As a writer (and closet perfectionist), I am constantly and consistently waiting for the perfect time to start writing. I could be waiting for the house to be quiet. I could be waiting for my son to leave or my spouse to leave so that I’m utterly alone. I could be waiting for the right feeling. I could be waiting to have my story demand I write it. I could also be waiting to just feel motivated.

It comes right down to wanting to have the perfect conditions to write.

I will tell you I have rarely had everything line up perfectly so that I felt I could write. Yes, sadly, those times are extremely rare. I’ve had to work to make the time to write and to make that writing time as perfect as I can.

I thought about what having perfect writing conditions meant for me. What did that look like? What were my expectations? And were they achievable? I won’t take you through that whole thought process now, but I will say that my expectations were not very achievable for numerous reasons. I had to rethink how I wanted to get writing time in my life.

I needed to consider what was affecting my time to write. As a mom, I don’t have long stretches of time to write. As a person working a full-time job, I don’t have long stretches of time to write. I also realized that my emotions affected how I felt about taking the time to write. If I’d had a bad day, my motivation to write would disappear.

I found the following things help me get some writing time in when I felt I didn’t have the time or the emotional bandwidth to sit and write.

I realized that there were times when I was waiting that I could write. Waiting in the school pick up line. Waiting at the doctor’s office. Waiting for any appointment. Even though that time might be as short as 5 minutes, I could get some writing in. So, I now make sure that I always have something to write on in my purse for these occasions.

My other big obstacle was my emotions, especially when my day was bad or I was overly tired. I have to give myself permission to just write for a short amount of time. I can’t feel guilty about it either. I have to let myself know that any time spent writing is an achievement. I do a lot of positive self-talk during days like these so that I can reevaluate my feelings and make sure that I can get some writing in for the day. And sometimes, the writing doesn’t happen even with all the positive self-talk. Guess what? That’s ok too. Just don’t let it become a habit, after all we have a book to write!

Of course, none of this is perfect. Not every idea works for every person, but I do hope that it will at least make you look at what your expectations are versus what you really have time for and consider what will work for you.

As always, write on, my writer friends!